ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609240011
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD
SOURCE: BRIAN LOWRY LOS ANGELES TIMES
How do some of television's top producers feel about the state of the industry?
Seeking to take the pulse of TV's creative community, the Los Angeles Times brought together three producers of hits - Steven Bochco, Marta Kauffman and Chris Carter - to explore that question.
Bochco, 52, will soon be inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame and can claim one of the best batting averages in television history. Through the years, he has been associated with such hits as ``Hill Street Blues,'' ``L.A. Law'' and ``Doogie Howser, M.D.'' as well as the returning ABC series ``NYPD Blue'' and ``Murder One.'' Bochco has also earned a reputation as a risk-taker, someone who seems to welcome controversy. His latest show (and first under a new deal at CBS), ``Public Morals,'' focuses on vice squad cops and is expected to air with a parental-discretion advisory because of its language and subject matter.
Kauffman, 39, with partners David Crane and Kevin S. Bright, forms the producing team responsible for NBC's ``Friends,'' an enormous ratings draw entering its third season, whose cultural influence has ranged from fashion to hairstyles. Before that, Kauffman and Crane created the popular HBO comedy ``Dream On.'' In addition, the ``Friends'' trio has a deal with NBC to produce a new comedy starring ``Cheers'' alumna Kirstie Alley, tentatively scheduled for next fall.
Carter, also 39, created Fox's top-rated show, ``The X-Files,'' which will move from Fridays to Sundays in late October. With the possible exception of ``Friends,'' the series has become prime time's most-imitated program, with NBC alone introducing three new Saturday dramas designed to attract the same sort of audience. Carter's latest series, ``Millennium,'' is an even darker hour about a former FBI investigator with a facility for profiling killers. With the series taking over ``The X-Files'' time slot, Fox's fortunes ride to a large extent on Carter's shoulders.
The Times asked these producers - representing shows on all four major networks, as well as comedy and drama - to assemble for an informal round-table discussion about issues facing the industry. Bochco and Carter had met briefly, but neither previously knew Kauffman.
Not surprisingly, the biggest challenge involved finding a time when all three could meet. The interview ultimately took place in Bochco's office.
Q: What issues, as the season approaches, are top of mind with you relating to television?
Kauffman: All three of us seem to have one issue in common, and that's the V-chip TV ratings system issue.
Carter: Or the C-chip: the content chip.
Kauffman: That's what I'm afraid of. That's what scares me. We have lesbians in our show; does that automatically give you a rating, just because there's an idea that some people may be uncomfortable with?
Q: Does it change the way you approach the shows? Each of you has shows that specifically have raised different issues.
Bochco: It's not going to affect what Chris is already doing or what I'm already doing.
Kauffman: Oh, yes it does. Very much so. We came under such fire once we moved to 8 o'clock. As the climate changed, it became more reactionary. It's affected us enormously.
Bochco: What I'm concerned about, and what I'm sure Chris is concerned about, is what's going to happen with development [of new shows]. That to me is the most chilling part. It's one thing to say, ``Well, `Friends' is `Friends,''' and of course it's a big hit. If tomorrow they moved it back to 9 o'clock, you'd then be dealing with a different set of standards, more akin probably to what you started with.
The thing that I find so potentially distressing, and I've said this before, is that I don't think in this climate I could develop ``NYPD Blue.''
Kauffman: I couldn't develop ``Friends'' in this climate. One of the issues is we are suddenly being asked to write something we are not familiar with. The show makes certain demands on you as a writer. After a while that takes over.
Carter: I actually developed something that is definitely pushing the limits of standards, so I don't know that you can't develop [risk-taking programs] in this climate, although we have the luxury of having proven ourselves with what we do. A case has already been made, so I was able to push the limits of content to an extent - not violence per se but content.
Q: Isn't that the assumption: because you're associated with hit shows, you have more latitude?
Kauffman: I don't believe so. It may be different in the 8-10 p.m. hours. My fear is that once the TV ratings system is in place, people are going to say, ``You know, I don't think we want to develop those kind of shows anymore, because we know that these advertisers are not going to want [to support them].'' I think that this year is less of a concern than next year.
Bochco: I'm less concerned with how we execute a show once it's on the air. I'll fight those battles, and I think you can win those battles. Because in fact once your show is on the air, particularly if it's getting any sort of viewership, the truth is you've got [the network] over a barrel.
The other issue may well be that this is an election year, so just from a purely practical point of view, all of us are going to be scattered and none of us are going to be able to develop any momentum in the early going. For an established show it's not a problem, but for a new show it is going to be a problem.
Once that election is over, politically, who knows? This could really go away. Listen, you can't unring a bell. I've been in television for almost 30 years, and I'm here to tell you it doesn't go back. It goes forward. It's not an unbroken line. If you graph it, it's spiky here and there, but inevitably this medium is dragged [forward] kicking and screaming.
Kauffman: I think we think we've gone farther than we have. We've made a little progress here and there.
Bochco: But it's a different medium now than it was. Twenty-five years ago, you couldn't have a real dialogue with broadcast standards, and the rules were such you couldn't show two married people in bed together.
Q: What do you think of the quality of television generally right now?
Bochco: I think there's an awful lot of good stuff on television. That said, none of us can watch it all, and there's so much stuff that the majority of it will always be mediocre.
Kauffman: A lot of people will probably get [angry] at me for this - and maybe it's because I don't do drama and don't have the same harsh judgment - but it seems to me that drama has really improved.
There's very little comedy I can watch and really enjoy. I think it's banal and stupid.
Carter: I sort of agree, although it may be unfair because I'm taking potshots at a format I'm not working in. I think what bothers me about it is that it's that same proscenium show; it's all the same. The lighting is the same, the rhythms are the same. It's setup, joke.
Q: Beyond the obvious, because you've all experienced something very few people will, what's the best part and most aggravating part about being associated with a hit show?
Kauffman: Truthfully, the best part is doing something you're proud of. It's an amazing feeling. You don't get to do that a lot.
Bochco: And doing something that everybody also acknowledges, because I've done things that haven't succeeded I've been very proud of.
Kauffman: The worst part for me is not seeing my family. It's so hard.
Bochco: It's a crucifixion. Nobody knows, nor need they know, because it's not anybody's problem. They shouldn't see how hard we work, but it's routinely six- and 61/2-day weeks, nine months a year.
Kauffman: It's also really hard to go to work, for me, and look at those women [in the ``Friends'' cast] every day.
Carter: Actually, what really makes me happy is doing something that people respond to. It sort of vindicates your view of the world. As a storyteller, you're telling a story that people want to see and to hear.
Also, when I get a group of people working together and it clicks, there's actually a team, an esprit de corps that happens. It's really special.
Kauffman: Collaboration. It's invigorating.
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) 1. Carter. 2. Bochco. 3. Chris Carter'sby CNBtop-rated show, ``The X-Files,'' starring Gillian Anderson and David
Duchovny, will move to Sundays in late October to make room for his
latest series ``Millennium.'' color. 4. Jimmy Smits (left) and
Dennis Franz star in Steven Bochco's award-winning drama ``NYPD
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